


the darkness will embrace me

by crookedspoon



Series: Tentatodd Week [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Humor, Body Horror, Demigod Roy Harper, Eldritch Dick Grayson, Fear Gas Aftermath, Horror, M/M, Multi, POV Jason Todd, Vore, Zombie Jason Todd, but like sweet vore, jaydick_flashfic: valentine’s crime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 21:08:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17732696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crookedspoon/pseuds/crookedspoon
Summary: Jason has never seen Dick this out-of-his-mind frightened before – hell, he thought Dick was immune to fear gas and huffed it for laughs or inspiration or whatever – and he's never wanted to think about something that could do this. It shouldn't be possible. Nothing should be scarier than Dick.Or: Eldritch horror Dick is hit with fear gas, and Jason is dealing with the quivering aftermath.





	the darkness will embrace me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LullabyDance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LullabyDance/gifts).



> Written for Day 1 "dreams and nightmares, fear toxin" at Tentatodd Week and #1 "Valentine's Crime" at [jaydick_flashfic](https://jaydick-flashfic.dreamwidth.org/1399.html).
> 
> This is your resident crook once again stealing other people's ideas for their own amusement. Featuring: [LullabyDance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LullabyDance)'s Eldritch Dick AU. Listen, they have the most amazing AU ideas, and were gracious and amazing to not only let me play with this one, but to also help me figure out how to write this particular thing! I love them a lot. ETA: [Here's the spoopy boy](https://lullaby-dance.tumblr.com/post/182898701426/dont-you-know-sometimes-dicks-shadow-doesnt) who got all this madness started.
> 
> Many thanks to 3isme for the beta!
> 
> Rated M for the horror elements. Please mind the tags before continuing :)

The cave is eerily silent once he switches off the noise coming from the speakers. It's enough to see the surveillance footage, he doesn't need to hear it too.

On the right-hand side of the Batcomputer, the monitors show Dick writhing on the examination table inside the quarantine chamber; on the left, several news channels report on what they call an alien attack or a runaway experiment by a bioterrorist organization.

The leather of Jason's gloves creaks as he balls them into fists.

He's so pissed. All they wanted to do was have a few quiet moments by themselves and do some couply shit like dinner and a movie. It had taken them literal weeks to fit a date in on Valentine's Day, because apparently every babysitter in Star City and the surrounding area is booked for the night.

And then this had to happen.

It's not like Jason is _surprised._ Holidays are prime time for Gotham's freakshow to pull some shit, regular as clockwork. He would have expected Calendar Man to get up to something, simply because that's his shtick, but good old Julian Day is safely back in his cell at Arkham.

Not that that's much of a deterrent. Sometimes Jason wonders why they bother to install locks at all, since those are working so well. There's only so much security upgrades can do to keep the loonies in, since threats and bribes work equally well on staff and board members alike.

They're still not sure how Scarecrow got out this time, but by the time Jason finds and is done with him, it will no longer matter.

He will suffer for what he's done to Dick.

Jason has never seen Dick this out-of-his-mind frightened before – hell, he thought Dick was immune to fear gas and huffed it for laughs or inspiration or whatever – and he's never wanted to think about something that could do this. It shouldn't be possible. Nothing should be scarier than Dick.

Jason drums his fingers on the workstation. The blood sample analysis is at 35 percent. Soon he can reverse-engineer a cure and pray it'll take. 

This is useless, he thinks. _I_ am useless.

Batman is out hunting Scarecrow and all Jason can do is wait.

He stalks over to the med bay, shrugging his shoulders uncomfortably. There's nothing wrong with them, all joints perfectly aligned, and yet Jason can't help but—no, he's not thinking about any of that now. He's fine. He has to be.

Roy's skin is a few shades whiter than usual under the fluorescent lamplight, as if he were out to compete with Jason's new all-natural pallor.

A lump forms in Jason's throat. This is all his fault. If he hadn't gotten in the way like the idiot he is, Dick wouldn't have—Roy could have saved Dick instead of wasting his energy on—

_Breathe._

He doesn't know what the fuck had he been thinking, trying to talk Dick down when he was like that. He didn't even recognize _Roy_ anymore, and they're bonded to each other, so there was no way that Jason could have gotten through to him.

It was his fucking pride that cost them all.

At least Roy's condition is stable. He just needs rest, and a lot of it. 

Dick is not such a clear-cut case. Jason has no idea what he needs. He never thought Dick could get this bad. He always seemed so... incorruptible. Indestructible, too.

Apparently he should have considered what would happen if Dick's powers were somehow turned against himself. It's not like Jason doesn't know that Dick has nightmares, even though he pretends he's peachy. But he handled those well enough, surely he should be able to handle anything else just as well?

Guess not.

The quarantine chamber all but oozes darkness and gives off a chill like a giant ice cube. The magical runes and symbols etched into the glass appear to provide only illumination inside, pulsing orange and yellow and white. It's hard to see, so Jason can only assume Dick is no longer spasming on the examination table. In fact, he assumes Dick has disintegrated into the darkness. It's one of his coping mechanisms, nothing to worry about.

Jason is not worried.

He steps closer. Close enough to put his fingers on the glass. It's a special quarantine chamber that Bruce had Zatanna fortify with spells to contain an eldritch being, yet it's not strong enough to withstand Dick's full powers. In short: it only works if Dick _wants_ to be contained.

A low whine rises from the chamber, and it stirs Jason's hackles. He jumps when something strong and heavy bangs against the glass.

 _Sorry,_ Dick's voice rings in his mind. _Sorry sorry hurt you sorry_ but also, more eerily, _Eat you eat you come closer run away hungry hungry hungryyy._

Jason startles himself to hear his own sob. His hands are trembling when he lifts them to his wet cheeks. Up until then, he'd thought the tension in his muscles was cold-induced. Not quite.

Jason is not worried, he is terrified.

He's never seen Dick lose control like that. He's never _felt_ this keenly how dangerous his boyfriend is. He–When Jason confronted him, there was nothing left of Dick in his myriad of depthless eyes. That was somehow acceptable. It would be worse to think that it was still Dick whose shadowy limbs tore off Jason's arms and legs like Jason was nothing more than a toy made out of stuffing and bad stitches.

Jason hasn't felt pain like this since he died. Sure, he's made a joke of ripping off his hand and offering it to anyone who needed one, but it was one thing when he did it himself, and quite another when his boyfriend has gone mad and turns him into Mr. Potato Head. Or a potato with a head, since Mr. Potato Head still had all his limbs attached.

Jason also hasn't felt this helpless since he died. His usual mode of handling things like getting shot, stabbed or blown up is to grit his teeth and push on, but how do you walk something off when you have no legs? He'd still been able to sense them several feet away from him, but he wasn't able to heal unless he can hold the wound together.

And then Roy, the idiot, had wasted time on putting him back together – worse, using his powers to heal Jason – instead of grounding Dick.

In the end, he'd used up all of his energy on Jason and trying to bring Dick back that he'd collapsed flat out in the street. It hadn't even been enough. Dick fell wide-eyed and gasping into Jason's recently reattached arms, still unaware of anything but the horror in his mind.

Jason was just glad that Batman had been around and let him use the Batmobile without much more than a disapproving thinning of his lips, but as far as Jason is concerned that's the standard look he's giving him. It might as well be a smile at this point. Doesn't fucking matter.

The Batcomputer dings; the analysis is complete. According to the data, the fear gas compound found in the sample is almost identical to one Batman already has on file. It makes synthesizing an antidote that much faster.

As is the spirit of quarantine chambers, this one too was built in a way to allow administering serums without having to directly interact with the quarantined person. But Dick is in no state to cooperate, and even if he were, Jason needs to do this himself.

On his way to the decontamination unit, Jason fights against every instinct that shrieks at him to run the other way. His body is quaking as he undresses and he's barely able to make it through the shower. Whimpers break through his trembling lips as he makes his way into the chamber. The tears in his eyes obscure his path. His knees are about to buckle with every step.

Dick's misery is almost palpable as his limbs tangle around Jason's legs. They rub the joints of his hips and shoulders as if apologizing for what they did earlier.

"Jason," Dick hisses in his multi-faceted voice, like a chorus of screams. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Don't come any closer. Please. I'm hungry."

"Shhh," Jason soothes until his voice breaks. "Come here."

He's afraid he'll drop the antidote because he's trembling so hard. No. He's afraid, period. For Dick. For himself, if he can't help Dick. For all of them. But also, he's afraid _of_ Dick and it's a realization he never wanted to have.

What if Dick doesn't get better? What will they have to do with him then?

Dick manifests in front of him, still not entirely human-shaped, but enough so to wind his arms around Jason's neck and his tentacle-like appendages around the rest of him. He feels wrong somehow, like a wax figure of himself, one whose body is melting. If Jason squeezed his shoulder too hard, he'd leave an impression. His dead heart knocks against the inside of his ribcage, but face to face with Dick, _his_ Dick, he wonders what he's been so afraid of. That Dick is going to eat him?

Something tickles his belly and Jason doesn't need to look to know that Dick's chest is splitting apart to reveal a huge maw lined with sharp teeth. If eating him is the worst he'll do, let him. Jason's already died once, and he didn't die a hero. If he can benefit Dick this time, then what the fuck is he waiting for?

"I'm sorry, Jason," Dick whispers and licks the tears from Jason's face with a long, twisting tongue. "You smell so delicious. I have to. I have to."

"I'm sorry, too," Jason says and rams the syringe with the antidote into the soft, wet flesh Dick has revealed before it envelopes him.

Dick convulses once but shakes his head, cups Jason's and kisses him gently. "I know you have to, as well. I'm just happy you're staying."

"Did you give me a choice?" Jason forces out through a stammer, sarcastically as ever. It's warm inside Dick, melting the tremors from his body, although hopefully not the flesh from his bones yet.

"This is calming. You're calming me down right now."

Dick is laying them both down onto the floor. It's incredibly intimate like this, submerged to his neck inside Dick, although he can't really move. It's freaky.

"So this is going to be my life now f-for the next, what, half an hour, huh? How long does it usually t-t-ake you to digest your prey?"

"Days? I don't _want_ to digest you, but I'm so hungry."

"If I elbow you, will it upset your stomach?"

"Ow, I guess I deserved that."

"You did. What the hell were you thinking ditching Roy and me to go after Scarecrow?"

"I ruined date night, didn't I?" Dick says. Jason can't decide if he's laughing or sobbing. Now that his human eyes are visible again, Jason can see the tear tracks sparkling on his cheeks as well. He wants to wipe them away but can't. "How's Roy?"

"Resting."

Dick releases Jason and the darkness slowly recedes as Dick shrinks back down to his normal, compact human size. He no longer feels quite as off when he curls up against Jason and caresses his side.

"Gross," Jason says when he realizes he's still covered in Dick's mucus.

"Would you rather I'd finished digesting you?" Dick murmurs against his neck.

"Nah, I'm good." A full-body shudder passes through Jason, leaving him tense and exhausted. "I'm gonna pass out shortly and have all the nightmares you'll ever need."

"That's sweet of you," Dick says with a hiccupping sob, "but I don't think I could eat yours now. I'm not in my right mind."

Jason rolls his gross, mucus-slick body onto his gross, mucus-slick elbow and strokes his gross, mucus-slick hand over Dick's tear-stained cheek. Dick sighs when Jason kisses the salty runnel on his other cheek.

"Neither am I, because I still love you, you freak."

Dick suppresses a wince. "Not now. Don't call me that now."

"Sorry." Jason kisses Dick's forehead and hugs him closer. He still feels gross.

"How about next Valentine's we go somewhere nobody knows us?"

"Now _that's_ a good idea. I'm sire Roy already has some destinations in mind."

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "What the Night Brings" by Wednesday 13.
> 
> The Mr. Potato Head line was inspired by the "yodeling potato" from Jeff Lindsay's second Dexter book.
> 
> (Fyi, this is actually the second fic I started in this universe. The first is gross porn I'm not done with yet.) ETA: I'm done with it. Please click on the Series link if you'd rather not read gross gore porn. It gets cuter after that.


End file.
